1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to multimedia communications and more particularly to asynchronous multimedia collaboration to create messages containing synchronized voice, graphics and mouse gestures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The ever increasing availability and use of computers in everyday life has created opportunities for the development of systems that enable two or more people to engage in what is termed computer supported collaborative work. In general, the prior art in this area can be divided into two categories: synchronous collaboration tools which enable a group of people to engage in discussions and information sharing while all of them are connected to a computer network; and asynchronous collaboration tools which enable a group of people to share data related to a common activity by means of a centralized data repository or thorough the exchange of electronic messages.
The NetMeeting product, from Microsoft Corporation, represents the state-of-the-art in synchronous collaboration tools. It enables video conferencing, application sharing and whiteboard applications over standard communications networks. Lotus Notes from Lotus Development Corporation, and the Microsoft Exchange Server, from Microsoft Corporation, provide state-of-the-art functionality in asynchronous collaboration, including support for information synchronization, workflow management, data security and replication.
In terms of the communication tool, the asynchronous multimedia collaboration whiteboard used in this invention is an enhancement of the dynamic image annotation mechanism described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/560,566 entitled "A Multimedia Based Reporting System With Recording And Playback Of Dynamic Annotation" filed Nov. 20, 1995, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention and hereby incorporated by reference. In particular, the asynchronous multimedia collaboration whiteboard provides the ability to include video, graphics and other multimedia objects in addition to static images, graphics and text. It also provides the annotation editing and annotation-on-annotation capabilities needed to facilitate the systematic exchange of dynamic annotations.
It is an object of the present invention to provide users with the ability to engage in computer-assisted collaborative tasks, taking full advantage of the expressive power of voice and data communications (conferencing), but without having to be present at the same time (delayed).